The Veil Rises
by Spankerelvis
Summary: Master Hand welcomes the last arrivals to the Smash Castle. They begin their battles, but things go wrong soon after their arrival...
1. Chapter 1: Cloud

Link whirled his sword around him and it caught Bowser and sent him high into the air. Little Mac immediately proceeded to KO punch Link. He went flying out of the stage faster than Sonic could dash toward Bowser to give the final blow after he landed. Link and Bowser had just lost their last stocks. Sonic and Little Mac sparred off for a while, attacking when they could, but Little Mac gave the final blow as the announcer called game.

Meowth watched the scene unfold on his screen as he remembered all of his failed attempts to enter the Smash Roster. Super Smash Bros 4 was coming out and he had finally decided that he was never going to get that invitation letter.

Just like Meowth, it was every character's dream to be part of the Smash roster. Everyone saw the broadcasts of the battles at some point, no matter the game they were in, and fighting in these battles was the only path to truly gain glory. But only the most prestigious of fighters could make it in.

Super Smash Bros 4 was about to be released and every fighter from every world eagerly awaited their letter of invitation, though most of them knew it would never arrive.

But for a lucky few, it did.

Every 5 or so years, things would change drastically in the Smash Castle. The rosters would change, and it was a sad thing when fighters had to say farewell to their friends, but it was intriguing to see who the new fighters would be, how they would act in the Smash Castle, and who they would be friends with.

They were all standing in a room not commonly used; it had a portal to and from other rooms. This door had never been opened without Master Hand's permission, and it was a fascinating thing to the newer fighters to see it in use. All of the fighters had said goodbye to their old friends that didn't make it past Brawl throughout the past couple of days. Some of the new arrivals, Palutena and Lucina being the first, had already arrived previously, as they were confirmed much earlier. But now Master Hand was about to bring in the last few additions.

"First to enter," Master Hand announced, "from Final Fantasy, we have Cloud!" A strong looking man with a gigantic sword entered the room and looked awestruck around the room.

"All of the fighters I've idolised so long!" He exclaimed.

"Well, you're one of us now, and people will idolise you if you fight well." Link shook his hand.

"The final two are brother and sister, so they shall enter together." Master Hand continued. "Please welcome, from Fire Emblem, Corrin and Kamui!"

Two beautiful white dragons entered through the doors. Now the others were amazed in return, as Charizard was the closest that they had to a dragon. Then the two dragons transformed into humans, a male and a female. Both had white hair and red eyes, and carried the same flaming sword.

Marth looked at Lucina. "Is that-"

"I can't believe it." Lucina said. "They're real."

"Lucina and Ike, you two will guide Corrin and Kamui respectively and show them around the place, as you are of Fire Emblem." Master Hand ordered. "Cloud, you will be guided by Link, as you are the only one present from your world. Link has been here from the beginning, so he knows his stuff."

"Link, it's so cool to meet you, you've always been one of my heroes!" Cloud said excitedly as they began walking to show him the Mansion.

"Well, you're going to get to fight that hero any time soon." Link explained, "We used to do these cheesy get to know you games, it was really kind of lame, but Master Hand decided the best way to get to know everyone was to fight them. I can guarantee that by the end of this week, you'll have fought everybody." He said.

"So how do these battles work exactly?" Cloud questioned.

"Well, we have a room that contains portals to every stage. Usually we choose when we fight, but occasionally we get called to." Then Link cautioned, "Just be ready for it, it could happen any time. But speaking of which, I'll take you to the stage room now."

They took a few more corners and walked some more hallways until Cloud was completely lost, and then they arrived in a huge room, full of doors, with symbols above every door. Cloud recognised The Legend of Zelda Triforce, the Metroid lightning bolt, Mario's mushroom, and a few others looked familiar but he couldn't place them.

"Do you learn what all these symbols go to?" He asked Link.

"You figure it out pretty quick." He replied.

Cloud pointed to a door on the far right, it looked like a green square, a circle, and a triangle smashed together. "What is that?" He asked, not recognising the symbol.

"Oh...those are the user created stages." Link shuddered. "We don't talk about those."

Cloud was confused but decided to dismiss it. "So which ones do you play the most often?" He asked.

Link pointed to the Super Smash symbol and said, "Battlefield and Final Destination seem to happen a lot. Other than that, it's pretty equal. Anyway, let's go to your room, shall we?"

They took some more hallways and arrived at a long one with several doors on both sides and other hallways branching out. "Each wing belongs to a different world." Link told him, "Just right here we've got my wing-" he gestured to the Triforce-"we all get one room to ourselves. But some that are alone, like you, you get a whole wing for yourself because there's nobody else from Final Fantasy." They stopped at the hallway marked FF and Cloud looked down it. "Right you are. And there's also Wario, he would have been grouped with the Mario folks, but he gets his own wing for special purposes. I'll show you if he's here."

They walked down the hall labeled with a W, and Link knocked on the last door.

"Who is ittttt?" A comical voice asked.

"Link, here to show a newcomer your collection."

The door was soon opened and they looked down to a short, chubby man in a plumber's suit with an oily moustache. He walked over to the next door over and unlocked it.

"Come in," Wario grunted. Cloud entered and beheld a sight that was definitely odd to him. It was a huge room filled with these...things. They had two wheels attached to metal frames with pipes sticking out the back.

"What...are these?" Cloud asked.

"Oh, you probably have never seen one where you come from." Link remembered. "We call them motorcycles." It was a large collection indeed. Motorcycles of several colours, all of them slightly worn out. "You'll see what they do in your first, and actually every battle with Wario." Link said, slightly exasperated.

"Why do you have so many?" Cloud asked.

"Heyyyy, I can't kill myself riding all of my bikes off of the edge." Wario complained.

Then a voice announced through speakers: "Cloud, report to the stage room. Opponents: Donkey Kong, Little Mac, and Shulk. Stage:Final Destination."

"You go fight, see my motorcycles later." Wario pushed him out.

Link took Cloud back to the stage room and left, saying the other competitors would explain it all.

They walked into the portal labeled with the smash symbol, and it said over the door to Final Destination: DK: Default Skin

Little Mac: Skin 8

Shulk: Skin 8

Cloud: Default Skin.

"Wow, again." Little Mac complained, pulling up his hood. "I can't ever see with this hood over my face."

"Yeah, baby!" Shulk exclaimed as he ripped his shirt off. "This is gonna be a party!"

They all walked in through the door, one after another.


	2. Chapter 2: Kamui

Ike took Kamui to a different hall than the others went towards.

"So," Ike began the conversation, "you really grew up in Nohr?"

"Well...yes." She answered. "I wasn't born there, but that's where I ended up through...unfortunate circumstances. I was born in Hoshido."

Ike thought for a moment. "Which do you feel is home?"

Kamui grimaced slightly and answered, "Could we not talk about that? Things were a little sticky when I left and...well..." She looked down, ashamed. "I don't want to know what I've done. It's complicated." She looked up at Ike.

Ike looked back into her red eyes. It had been a long time since Ike had seen one like her, but somehow she really was rather attractive to him. She seemed to have a good heart. He dismissed that thought quickly and returned to the matter at hand.

"So, here we have the dining hall, and it seems that lunch is just finishing up." Ike showed her, as a straggling Mii Brawler and the two Wii Fit trainers left the room. Only Kirby was left, just sucking in as much food as was available. "Man, that little thing can eat." Ike shook his head. Then he gestured to a serving area and said, "Over there they have the select few of us that can actually cook prepare our meals." Then he pointed to the other side. "That stage over there is sometimes used to provide entertainment when special occasions arrive. We'll probably get something tomorrow to celebrate your arrival."

"That's...interesting." Kamui responded, not used to the idea of entertainment appearing often. "What kind of shows do you get?"

"Well, pretty much everything." Ike explained. "Some are great, and some are a little bit problematic. Let's leave it at that."

But Kamui looked at him questioningly.

"Well, for instance, Jigglypuff sang for us when Lucina and Palutena showed up, and let's just say that didn't end well."

Kamui had no idea what a Jigglypuff might mean or why its singing might be so bad, but she kept quiet.

"Speaking of Palutena, what's going on over there?" Kamui noticed Palutena yelling at Pac-Man as he cleaned up the unused fruits he provided.

"Oh." Ike sighed. "Palutena has wanted to cook ever since she showed up, but they won't let her. I don't have the full story, but something about a bunch of angry vegetables blowing up her temple last time she tried to make a soup."

Kamui didn't question that either. A lot of weird things happened in this place.

Just then a small yellow creature ran over to Ike and jumped in his arms. It tried to dig deeper into his hold. "You might already know, but this is Pikachu." Ike told her.

"It almost seems...scared." Kamui observed as it poked its head out over Ike's arm. Just then three tiny, slim, colourful creatures entered the room, searching for something. Apparently they wanted to find Pikachu.

"We really don't know why, but Pikachu is terrified of Pikmin." Ike clarified for her. "Alph always loses control of his Pikmin and they go hunt Pikachu down. I think they see it as a game." Kamui walked over and scratched Pikachu behind the ears.

Just then, the Pikmin noticed Pikachu's little yellow ears poking up as Kamui touched them and they ran over to see it.

"Pi...kaaa...CHUUUUUUU!" A massive wave of electricity slammed into them both, frying the Pikmen with them. Kamui found herself on the ground, hardly able to move. She quickly drifted off into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3: Past

Cloud stepped out through the door onto a small platform in the middle of space, with fireballs and comets streaming by beside them. He'd been watching it for years, and here he finally was.

The announcer immediately called "3...2...1...FIGHT!" Before Cloud even registered what was happening, Shulk landed a backslash on him and Donkey Kong then grabbed him and threw him in the air. As he came down Little Mac hit him with an uppercut, and sent him flying into the distance. Cloud wondered at that moment if it was a time or stock battle. He got hit a few more times by who-knows-who, and then he saw a red symbol over Shulk's head.

Oh no, he thought. I'm done already.

Indeed, Shulk hit him while set to smash and Cloud went flying out of the arena.

He was teleported back to the battle on a certain floating platform. There was a small reading that displayed that he had one stock left.

A two stock battle? He thought. That's really not something that's common.

Cloud landed, and knowing how his opponents fought to a certain extent, he got in some good hits. He even remembered to use his shield! Then the attitude of all changed when a glowing ball of power began floating around them. They all tried their hardest to hit the smash ball, and Donkey Kong landed the final blow. He began banging on some bongo looking things that appeared out of no where. Cloud didn't know what they were, but they sent him flying a second time.

Cloud had lost, and the match was soon finished. He discovered that Shulk had ended up as the winner.

"It's all the skin." He kept telling them, as Little Mac threw him dirty looks. But they were now back at the Smash Castle, and Cloud was eager to see more.

Cloud decided to go eat to see if he could talk to a few people. He passed some figures he didn't recognise; a dog and his bird, a slightly diabolical looking creature he assumed to be a Pokemon, and a mysterious man hat was completely covered.

He entered the dining hall and realised that he was earlier than most would be. There was currently nobody around except for King DeDeDe and a blonde girl in a turquoise dress. She seemed to be talking to herself and that was weird. But the big hammer with the other character didn't appear too welcoming either.

He decided to go to the blonde girl.

He sat across from her. "Cloud," he said and offered his hand.

"Oh, you're one of the new ones here. Rosalina." She looked at his hand but didn't move to take it. "This here is Luma." She pointed to a little energetic star that Cloud hadn't noticed before. Apparently she wasn't talking to herself.

"Have you been part of Smash for long?" He asked her.

"Well, no." she laughed. "I've done some battles but I haven't been here too long."

"Do you and your star...Lucas, you said?"

"Luma." She corrected. "You might meet this kid Lucas here. But anyway, continue."

"Do you and Luma fight together?" He asked.

"Well, duh." She rolled her eyes. "One girl can't rule the cosmos by herself."

Cloud laughed, not realising who she really was. "Good one." He smiled at her.

Luma made some agitated noises that still sounded happy. "Well, I look forward to seeing you in battle, Cloud." She straightened her crown and held out her hand to shake his. But Cloud had just frozen at someone behind her.

"Who...is that?" Cloud pointed to a woman with long green hair and a really fancy dress, along with some kid with wings next to her.

"Oh, you males are always the same." Rosalina complained. "That's Palutena. She's new to Smash 4 too." Rosalina winked at Cloud. "Come on, Luma." She left Cloud to stare at the Goddess. He wondered if she was taken by that kid. Or maybe she just looked good because anything is attractive after seeing a shirtless Shulk.

But then she made it easy; she walked to Cloud.

"Hey." He said awkwardly. "I'm-"

"Cloud." She smiled. "We meet again."

"...Have we met before?" Cloud was already concerned that maybe this woman was a little bonkers.

"Oh, not that you'll remember." She grinned at him. "So long...soldier."

With that word, she left him deep in his thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4: It Begins

Lucina took Corrin to the third hallway coming out of the portal room.

"First thing I see is that you're a sword fighter too." Lucina commented.

"Yeah, well..." Corrin gave Lucina a grin.

"So how does this whole dragon thing work?" She wondered.

Corrin concentrated hard, and felt the familiar transformation. He grew above Lucina and decided to let out a roar just for show.

A certain blonde princess in a pink dress chose that exact moment to walk around the corner. Peach shrieked and ran back to wherever she came from.

Corrin transformed into a human and laughed with Lucina. He looked into her eyes.

"You have very nice eyes." He said suddenly, wondering where it came from.

"Oh, um..." Lucina looked away shyly. "Thanks." She muttered. She felt safe in the Smash Castle but she would never feel right telling someone about that mark.

"So here is a new room we added for training recently." She changed the subject suddenly. "We call if the multi-man smash room."

They walked up to a clear glass wall, and saw a replica of Battlefield inside an enormous room. Falco was currently smashing through a bunch of Miis that were constantly assailing him.

"None of us really knows how this room works or how in the world we happen to have an endless supply of Miis." Lucina explained. "But you can choose to just smash forever for practice if you want. Lombardi definitely takes his time here though."

Then the speakers lit up with that announcer's voice: "Cloud, Corrin, and Kamui, report to the stage room. Stage: Wily Castle."

"I'm sorry." Lucina looked at Corrin apologetically.

"What? It'll be fine." He said confidently.

"We all hate that stage." She laughed nervously. "You'll see why."

Corrin entered the stage room and found Kamui and Cloud already waiting for him. They entered a door with a gear symbol over it.

They exited into a rather flat stage, with only some platforms idly floating around. There was a unique techy-looking castle behind them. Corrin wondered what Lucina could have meant about this stage being horrible.

"3...2...1...GO!" The announcer called. Kamui and Corrin eyed each other, knowing how the other fought. While they examined each other, Cloud jumped behind them and slashed downward, putting Corrin on the ground. Kamui dashed forward and drove her sword into Cloud. He got up just in time to be hit by Kamui's sword whirling upward. Cloud was constantly on the ground, getting defeated, witnessing the smooth transitions between dragon and human. Just when he thought he would be knocked out, a bunch of yellow blobs began to fall from the sky. They landed to form some sort of big yellow creature. He didn't care what it was because it separated him from them while he got up.

Kamui observed the creature that appeared to have a single eye or some other apparatus on it. She was curious, and then it shot her. Huge blasts of energy more painful than she had felt before struck her chest and she was violently knocked to the ground. She managed to get up just in time to see its yellow mass come flying at her. She was tossed around and couldn't land for what felt like an eternity. Kamui had witnessed the reason that all smashers hated this place. She was being defeated by someone, or something, that wasn't even in the battle.

Then the strangest thing happened. The air behind them opened up, like it was ripped open. There was a large purple gash in space itself, and a huge gust of wind began to pull into it. The yellow monster thing got swiftly pulled into it, and then the gash disappeared as if nothing had ever happened.

Kamui looked back to see that Cloud was nowhere to be seen. She had only to defeat her brother now. They sparred off for a very lengthy time, getting in small hits whenever they could. Corrin was defeating her for the most part, but Kamui's sword delivered the final blow that sent Corrin off of the stage.

The three fighters had returned to the stage room, ready to go freshen up from a hard battle, maybe take a nap. Corrin thought maybe he would go see Lucina.

But the scene was not peaceful, as it was before they left to battle. There were bright flames and charred holes all over the walls and floor. Around the corner, there was the sound of a massive explosion accompanied by a great amount of yelling.

The three fighters looked at each other, and as one they ran to see the trouble.

Then they saw the monstrosity they had just faced. That yellow demon was tromping through the halls, shooting everyone and everything it saw. Falco, Link, Ike, Rosalina and her Luma were already trying their hardest to slow its progress. As Cloud, Corrin and Kamui ran to aide them, Diddy Kong, Samus, Luigi, and Lucina appeared to help. Wario came around the corner, obnoxiously revving one of his bikes.

They fought with all they had, but they only slowed it down. It hit Link and he fell to the wall, unconscious. It Wario's motorcycle and created a huge explosion that put Lucina out of the action. Diddy Kong had disappeared, and Luigi had been knocked to the ground, unable to rise. Just when they were losing all hope, a huge white hand came flying around the corner. Master Hand grabbed the abomination and carried it off quickly.

Corrin looked around at the destruction it left. Only then did he notice his sister, on the ground, clutching her sword tightly. He ran to her and knelt by her side silently.

"Kamui!" He looked up and Ike ran over to her. She looked into Ike's eyes. A silent communication happened. "I'll be fine." She tried to smile.

Master Hand came flying back, empty handed. "The protection the stages offer is not functional here. These are serious injuries. They need treatment." He gathered up all the wounded and rushed them to the hospital wing.

Master Hand called an assembly of the entire roster in the hospital wing to include the injured. Full assemblies almost never happened outside of roster changes. Corrin and Ike both fought to sit with Kamui, but Corrin decided to support Lucina.

Master Hand spoke, "Does anyone know how this happened?" Corrin could have sworn Master Hand was glaring at them. For the first time in the history of the Smash Castle, all was silent. All of them, even Bowser and Ganondorf, were looking down dejectedly.

"Nobody?" He waited in silence for a long time. "Cloud, Kamui, Corrin, you all witnessed nothing?"

They stayed silent.

"This is the first major security breach that the Smash Castle has ever seen. And it happens right after you three join us." Master Hand was clearly frustrated at this point. "I don't know how, but anything could happen. Everyone be ready for anything at all times. You are dismissed."

"Cloud, Corrin, stay here with Kamui awhile." After everyone had left, Master Hand spoke. "I have no proof, but I must keep close tabs on you three. It can't be a coincidence that this happened immediately after you joined us." He thought for a bit an continued. "I know it's a harsh thing to say, but...I'm blocking you three from all battles until we figure this out. I'm sorry it had to begin this way, but the portals will now be closed to you."


End file.
